Members of the Cignal Ultra Warriors receive the prize after winning the Dota 2 Finals of The Nationals last Sunday. From left are team manager Jeffrey Lansangan, team owner Auggie Cadua, players Fernando Mendoza, Jomari Aniz, Pio Emeterio, Erice Guerra, Van Jerico Manalaysay, and coach John Jerick Paulo.

Ultra Warriors rule inaugural The Nationals esports tourney

(The Philippine Star) - April 18, 2019 - 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The Cignal Ultra Warriors delivered what was expected of them as the heavy favorites, ruling the inaugural conference of The Nationals after beating the Suha-Execration Punishers, 3-2, in the Dota 2 best-of-five finals series last Sunday at the Gariath Concepts in Eastwood City, Libis.

Cignal entered the championship round as the favorites after gaining an automatic berth with its league-best 13-3 record in the group stage of the first professional esports tournament.

The Warriors’ skills were on full display after winning a convincing Game 1 in the finals.

Though the Punishers put their foot on the pedal as they racked up back-to-back wins, including a 27-minute stomp in Game 2, the Ultra Warriors stepped up and won the final two games of the conference with a strong push oriented lineup of Beastmaster, Pugna, Jakiro, Dazzle and Sven in the final game.

Earlier, the Punishers eliminated PLDT-Smart Omega in a best-of-three semifinal that also went the distance. Overall, Suha-Execration played a total of eight games on playoff day.

With the victory, the Warriors won the top prize money of P400,000 for the three-week tournament, while the Punishers and second runner-up Omega got P200,000 and P100,000, respectively.

Cignal’s Fernando Mendoza was named Best Player of the finals series, finishing with an average of 9.4 kills, 6 assists, and 650 GPM per game.

The just concluded Dota 2 conference is one of the six conferences set in the competition’s inaugural year aired on 5Plus via ESPN5 and One Sports and eGG Network via CignalTV.

The next Dota 2 conference starts May 1.

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Tekken 7, two of the country’s biggest games on mobile and console, will also host two conferences each later this year.